Babcock always uses his centers as shutdown guys, especially against the Sharks, who were extremely deep down the middle (Thornton/Pavelski/Couture). That he trusted Filppula to play center on a line with Franzen and Hudler, two huge defensive liabilities, shows how much he trusted Filppula to play a defensive/backchecking role on that line.
And yes, Franzen sucked. But then again, that's nothing new. He has large periods during the regular season where he sucks/is invisible.

Not living up to his potential? He had the GWG (and made the play to take away the puck) in game six. How much more clutch would you like him to be?
He also put up 8 points in 11 games, and he only got points in two games of the Sharks series (1 G, 1 A in game six and 1 A in game seven). Also keep in mind that he was primarily used as a defensive center for most of the series, until Babcock put him on Datsyuk's wing.
How about Cleary? He's only paid slightly less than Filppula, and yet he gets a pass for producing markedly less than Filppula in the playoffs? Not only that, he does markedly less than Filppula on defense.

Oh don't get me wrong, Kronwall was excellent in the playoffs, but he's not ready to take over as a #1 defenseman yet.
I think if Lidstrom comes back for one more year you'll see Lids as essentially as a PP specialist even more-so than this season (like he was in the playoffs) and you'll see Kronwall getting more hard minutes than he has in the past. I honestly believe that next year (and possibly the year after) will be the transition year.

So you like winning 30 games a year? Because that's about how many you'd win with that lineup.
YOU HAVE HELM ON THE FIRST LINE WING.
Please for the love of god stay away from anything that's anywhere close to coaching or being a GM. You'd be absolutely terrible at it.

Er, why would you do that? Do you automatically assume that if Kronwall wasn't playing on the PK and instead using those minutes at ES like Lidstrom did that he would have scored two more goals?
Just to satisfy your curiosity though, Lidstrom scored a point at ES or on the PP every ~29 mins he was on the ice. Kronwall scored a point at ES or on the PP every ~34 mins he was on the ice.
That's taking out PK time from both of their total series ice time.

This is extremely laughable. He's a Norris finalist and you think he's overpaid at $6.2m?
And even more laughable, you think Kronwall is a future #1 dman? He's 30 years old and has never showed more talent than a #2 at best.
Edit: I hope to god that Lids is back for another year. This team will have a hard time continuing on without him.

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